Spring operated door closer



July 24, 1962 c. A. SCHWARZ SPRING OPERATED DOOR CLOSER Filed Sept. 12,1960 FIG.2

INVENTOR CHARLESA.SCHWARZ United States Patent 1 Filed Sept. 12, 1960,Ser. No. 55,313

9 Claims. (CI. 16-79) This invention relates to mechanical labor savingdevices for performing work and particularly to those which operate withminimum attention or preferably without requiring human effort in theaccomplishment of a particular task. 7

The invention relates specifically to spring actuated door closingdevices which operates to close doors powered by the tension of thesprings after such springs have been subjected to tension asa result ofoperation of such doors.

Prior devices of this general character have been im practical andimperfect in operation as well as complicated, expensive, cumbersome andotherwise unsatisfactory.

It is an object of the invention to provide a practical, relativelysimple, inexpensive, efifective and foolproof spring operated doorcloser, a portion of which is adapted to be attached to the door andanother portion is adapted to be attached to the door frame, and inwhich device a coil type spring is wound and and subjected to tension bythe opening of the door and by the unwinding of which the door will beclosed, and in which device an over-riding clutch will retain adequatetension on the spring.

Another object of the invention is to provide a spring operated doorcloser having effective means by which the action of the door closer maybe put out of action as well as to provide in such device a relativelycompact unit and housing therefor.

A further object of the invention is to provide a spring operated doorcloser having a power gear connected to the spring by means of anover-riding clutch and with such power gear caused to engage a rack foreffecting the closing of the door, or caused to engage a pinion with anintermediate larger gear engaging such rack, or instead of the largergear and rack the device may have a pulley and a cable for accomplishingthe same purpose.

Other objects and advantages of. the invention will be apparent from thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawingwherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective illustrating one application of the invention;

*FIG. 2., a perspective of the driving unit;

FIG. 3, a longitudinal section on the line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4, a transverse section on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5, a view similar to FIG. 3 of a modified construction; and

FIG. 6, a similar view of a furthermodified construction.

Briefly stated, the invention is a door closer embodying a rack and adrive gear, one of which is attached to the door and the other to a doorframe and with the drive gear performing the dual function of energizingpower means in the form of a tensioned spring so that when, the door isopened, such drive gear will be rotated to cause tension on a coilspring so that such spring upon unwinding upon the release of suchtension will exert force to close the door. The driving gear is mountedupon a pinion which meshes with a power gear connected to a shaft towhich a coil spring is fastened by a ratchet and a pawl which constitutein effect an over-riding clutch, locking means being provided forengagement with the power gear for securing the same in operativeposition to render the door closer inoperative. If preferred, the drivegear and rack may be replaced by a pulley and a cable, or the drive gearand pinion on which the drive gear is 3,045,276 Patented July 24, 1962mounted may be omitted and a power gear meshed directly with the rack,but in each of such embodiments the coil spring ratchet and pawl whichconstitute the overriding clutch are used with the lock securing theparts in a position that they are out of action.

With continued reference to the drawing, the present invention comprisesa front plate 10 and a rear plate 11 connected by a plurality of spacers12 to form a holder or frame .13 adapted to be mounted on a sliding door14or other structure in any desired manner for returning the same to itsinitial position.

A. shaft 15 is carried substantially centrally of the frame and isprovided with reduced end portions 16 and 17 located in openings 18 and19 in thefront and rear plates 10 and 11 respectively.

The reduced end portion 17 of the shaft 15 has a screw driver slot 17'for rotation of the shaft by a screw driver. The shaft 15 has anenlarged hub portion 20 at one end to which a coil spring 21 is attachedby a screw or other fastener 22. The opposite end of the coil spring 21is provided with an upturned hook portion 23 adapted to engage one ofthe spacers 12 to anchor the end of the coil spring in fixed position.

A gear 25 is mounted rotatably on the shaft 15 and in order to provide adriving connection between the gear25 and the shaft 15, a ratchet 26 isnon-rotatably mounted on the shaft 15 adjacent to the gear 25. Theratchet is fixed to the shaft in any desired manner as for example theshaft may have a flattened portion 28 which engages acooperating portion29 in the ratchet to prevent relative rotation. A pawl 30 is pivotallymounted by a pin 31 on the gear 25 and engages the ratchet 26. The pawlis held in contact with the ratchet regardless of its position by aspring 3-2 having one end secured by a screw or other fastener 33 to thegear 25 and having its free end 34 disposed against the side of the pawlremote from the ratchet. A stop 35 is provided on the gear 25 andfunctions to keep the free end of the spring in contact with the pawl.

The gear 25 meshes with a pinion on a shaft 41 having reduced endbearing portions 42 and 43 at opposite ends thereof for receipt inopenings 44 and 45 in the plates 10 and 11 respectively. A drive gear 46is fixed on the shaft 41 and meshes with a rack 47 attached to orcarried by a door frame 48.

A cover or housing 50 for the working parts may be provided having acutout portion or slot 51 in one side to accommodate the drive gear 46,mounted on the frame #13 in any conventional manner (not shown). A block53 is mounted on the inside of the housing 50 opposite the slot orcutout portion 51 and such block has a vertical opening 54 substantiallysquare in cross section for the reception of a cooperating squarelocking pin 55.

The square pin 55 extends through the block 53 in alignment with thegear 25 and the inner end of such pin 55 is provided with an enlargedpointed head 56. The outer end of the pin has an operating knob 57 bymeans of which the pointed head of the pin may be moved into or out ofcontact with the gear 25 to lock the gear against be applied to the coilspring 21 before the door is opened.

and the action of the spring will close the door.

In the modification illustrated in FIG. 5, the drive gear 46 is omittedfrom the shaft 41 and is replaced by a pulley approximately of the samesize. A cord or cable 71 3 has one end connected to the door frame 48and its opposite end attached to the pulley 70. The intermediate portionof the cord encircles the pulley 70 and the device is placed undertension as previously described.

In FIG. 6 a further modified form of the invention is illustratedwherein the drive gear 46 and pinion gear 40 have been omitted and aslightly enlarged gear 25' is substituted for the gear 25 and meshesdirectly with the rack 47 on the door frame 48., Front and rear plates10' and 1 1' respectively are connected by spacers 12 to form a frame 13which is enclosed within a housing 50' having a cutout portion 51'through which the gear 25' projects.

In the operation of the device a rack 47 is mounted on a door frame andthe frame '13 is mounted on a cooperating sliding door 14 with the drivegear 46 in mesh with the rack 17. With the door in closed position,tension is applied to the coil spring 21 by rotating the shaft 15 bymeans of a screwdriver in the slot 17 of the shaft 15. Thereafter, thehousing 50 is mounted on the frame 13 and the device is in operativecondition.

When the door is opened, the drive gear 46 will be caused to rotate andin turn will rotate the shaft 41 and the pinion gear 40 mounted thereon.The pinion gear will rotate the 1 gear which will .drive the shaft 15through the pawl and ratchet 26. Rotation of the shaft 15 increases thetension on the coil spring 21 so that when the door is released the coilspring will unwind and close the door.

if the drive gear 41 should accidentally become disengaged from the rack47 while the door is open thereby releasing the tension on the coilspring, the spring will open until it strikes one or more of the spacers12. When the door is closed manually the pawl 30 on the gear 25 willoverride the ratchet 26 and will not rotate the shaft 15. Consequently,the next time the door is opened, tension will be applied to the coilspring 21 from the moment the door begins to open.

It will be noted that the device thus illustrated and described isapplicable to a door which slides open to the left as viewed in FIG. 1.A door which opens to the right may be closed by a simple reversal ofthe coil spring 21 and the ratchet 26 and pawl 30.

The device of FIG. 5 operatesin a similar manner. The cord 71 isattached to the door frame 48 and when the door is opened the cord willrotate the pulley 70, shaft 41, pinion gear 40, gear 25 and shaft 15 toincrease tension on the coil spring 21 as previously described.

In the device illustrated in FIG. 6 the gear 25' directly engages therack 47 and when the door is opened the gear rotates the shaft 15through the pawl and ratchet to increase tension on the coil spring 21.

The door on which any of the devices is mounted may be held in openposition by pushing the operating knob 57 upwardly to raise the head 56into contact with the gear 25' or 25' to prevent such gear fromrotating.

It will be obvious to one skilled in the art that various changes may bemade in the invention without departing from the spirit and scopethereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which isillustrated in the specification, but only as indicated in theaccompanying claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for closing a door movable slidably in a door frame, saiddevice comprising a housing, a spring unit in said housing including aframe, a shaft within said frame, a spring connecting said shaft andsaid frame in a manner to rotate said shaft by said spring, a power gearon said shaft, locking means selectively movable into contact with saidpower gear, a ratchet and pawl connecting said power gear and said shaftand forming an over-riding clutch, and an operating connection includinga part parallel to the direction of sliding movement of the door andbetween said power gear and door so that said power gear will beoperated to tension said spring when the door is opened and thereafterwhen the door is released said spring will operate to close said door.

2. A door closer for closing a door movable slidably in a door framesaid door closer comprising a rack fixed on the door frame and extendingin the direction of the slidable movement of the door and a drive gearon the door, a supporting frame mounting said drive gear so that theopening of the door will rotate said drive gear in one direction and bythe reverse direction thereof the door will be closed, tension meansoperatively associated with said drive gear in a manner to be tensionedby the opening of the door and to close the door upon the release of thedoor to allow such tension means to close the door, said tension meansincluding a pinion fixed to said drive "gear, a connecting gear engagingsaid pinion, a shaft mounting said connecting gear, a ratchet and pawlconnecting said shaft and said connecting gear, and a coil spring,having one end fixed to said shaft and its other upper end fixed to saidsupporting frame. 1

3. A device for application to a door movable slidably in a door framefor closing the door, said device comprising a spring unit including -aframe, a spring attached to said frame, a shaft within said frameattached to said spring and adapted to be rotated by said spring, apower member on said shaft, an over-riding clutch for driving said powermember from said shaft, and an operating connection including a partparallel to the direction of sliding movement of the door and betweensaid power member and said door, and means for rendering said doorcloser inoperative to close the door whereby said power member will beoperated to tension said spring when the door is opened and thereafterwhen the door is released said spring will operate to close said door.

4. The structure of claim 3 in which said means includes locking meansselectively movable into contact with said power member for renderingthe door closer inoperative to close the door.

5. The structure of claim 3 in which said power member is a gear and inwhich said operating connection is a pinion in engagement with saidgear, a larger gear fixed to said pinion, and in which the part parallelto the direction of movement of the door is a rack in engagement withsaid larger gear.

6. The structure of claim 5 in which a locking member is movable betweenteeth of one of the gears to prevent movement of said gear in eitherdirection.

7. The structure of claim 3 in which said power member is a gear and inwhich the part parallel to direction of movement of the door is a rackfixed on the door frame References Cited in the file of this patentUNITED STATES PATENTS 972,631 McClure Oct. '11, 1910 1,014,266 StutlerJan. 9, 1912 1,605,256 McAboy Nov. 2, 1926 2.658.231 Gut-tormsen Nov.10. 1953

